EBOLA: House of Reps raise alarm over possible outbreak of disease

The House of Representatives has warned that there is a chance that the Ebola virus disease could return to Nigeria and has urged the Federal Government to take necessary precautions.

In a motion made by MP Dachung Bagos, members of the House unanimously agreed that Nigeria might contract the disease since other African nations have been reporting cases of Ebola on Thursday during the House's plenary.

The motion was titled, ‘Urgent public importance on the need for the Federal Government to activate response against the possible detection of Ebola in Nigeria.’

Bagos said that after a patient from a community in the Madudu sub-county, Mubende District, Central Uganda, had his or her case confirmed in a laboratory, the Ugandan health authorities announced an epidemic of the Ebola virus on September 20.

The congressman also mentioned that the World Health Organization highlighted worries about the possibility of a harmful public health impact in the absence of licenced vaccinations and treatments for the prevention and treatment of the Sudan virus sickness.

He claims that studies are still being conducted to ascertain the extent of the disease and its potential for propagation.

Bagos said, “According to the information currently available, the overall risk has been assessed as high at the national level considering the confirmed Sudan virus and the lack of an authorised vaccine, the possibility that the event started three weeks before the identification of the index case and several transmission chains have not been tracked.

“The House is worried that the Ebola virs is giving a lot of people concern around the world, as it was the variant that gave a lot of infections and fatalities in some countries.

“The House is concerned that Nigeria has reason to be warier at the moment as the deadly Ebola virus can get into Nigeria through our borders or travellers coming into Nigeria for business or any reason and could become dominant if unchecked.”

The Federal Ministry of Health was ordered to "immediately activate strategies to be implemented in monitoring adherence to Ebola guidelines and ensure residents continue to comply with all advisories aimed at curtailing the likely development of the virus in Nigeria" by the House after it adopted the motion.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control was ordered by the lawmakers to ensure close monitoring and review of the safety procedures for travellers arriving from nations with red flags.

In order to protect Nigerians from the worst effects of the pandemic, they also instructed the NCDC to draw up a national response to stop the expected emergence and spread of the Ebola virus.

Source